Polaris motor toboggan pulls a one-ton load
across Beardmore Glacier. This revolutionary de
vice can seat two passengers, but drivers prefer to
follow on skis and steer with 60-foot reins, lest the
vehicle suddenly plunge them into a snow-hidden
crevasse a hundred feet deep. Polaris saves sup
plies: It consumes no fuel when storms halt work,
while dogs must still be fed.
Huskies face technological unemployment. Among
the Americans, Polaris and other machines have dis
placed dogs. Here at New Zealand's Scott Station,
however, the howl of the husky can still be heard.
Frozen fish found on
top of the Ross Ice Shelf
may have aged as long
as 1,100 years, radiocar
bon tests show. Clams,
snails, sponges, and
coral also appear on the
surface, to the amaze
ment of beholders.
Scientists theorize
that the shelf froze to
the bottom and trapped
sea life in a deep freeze.
As upper layers melted
away, the lower ice
slowly rose until it final
ly left these specimens
high and dry. The fish,
classified as notothe
niids, appeared edible,
but no one ate them.
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